the magazine for alumni of University of the West of scotland

issUe 2 aUtUmn 10

Careers advice for alumni / 5 uWS academics’ pioneering research / 10 lord mcfall on the future of uK banking / 16

PlUsuWS neWS / alumni ProfileSlifeStYle tiPS

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU (anD uWS)

alumnus Stephen achieves the right mix in the music industry / 8

the magazine for alumni of University of the West of scotland

ContentS

2 / contents / UWS Alumni Magazine

alumni Profile

UWS Alumni Magazine / alUmni Profile / 3

When Bob Davidson says he started out life as a BABE, he doesn’t mean quite what you might think. Back in 1990, when he went to Paisley College of Technology, as it was known then (now UWS), it stood for a BA in Business Economics.

Twenty years later, he’s just completed his first year as Chief Executive of Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce, a year that has seen him turn the Renfrewshire Chamber’s fortunes around. It’s just one of the many achievements Bob has under his belt, and he remains adamant that his studies are still underpinning his success.

“One of the best parts of my experience on my course was definitely the year out,” he explains. “It was a sandwich course with an industrial placement. I spent a year with Chivas, the drinks company. It was a springboard for me into the drinks industry, where I spent 18 years and worked my way up to Director level.”

On graduating, Bob took up a position with drinks company Whyte and Mackay that lasted 7 years working for his old boss who had moved from Chivas. Then followed 6 years at Diageo, an MBA and a great deal of travel. After a brief spell with Sky TV, 2 years in the construction sector, Bob then worked in drinks consulting and latterly Forth Wines, which was led by the guy who had been his boss on his

year out from University a couple of decades earlier.

“Without a doubt my contacts from my student days were paying off. This is my 9th job, some would say that’s great, but some would say – why don’t you stay? It can be a good thing, it’s lots of experience. Over half of these jobs came from my network, all related to that first year out.”

It was a contact made from the drinks industry who encouraged Bob to take up the position as Chief Executive of Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce, which had been underperforming. Membership was down, team morale was low and it was losing money. Now, at the end of Bob’s first financial year, figures show the Chamber making a healthy surplus, with membership, morale and profile at an all time high.

“It was just good old common sense,” says Bob. “It’s the number one thing I look for. I got a strategy together, got the team and the Board of the Chamber to support it and that’s what we’re delivering just now. It worked and it worked very quickly.”

Thanks to Bob’s strategy, the Chamber now has an improved online directory, and revamped and better attended events. Press coverage of the Chamber has increased with a business page in the local paper The Gazette, as well

as regular coverage in The Herald and Evening Times. The Chamber is also prevalent across all social media platforms and has recently launched the first Chamber of Commerce iPhone app in Europe.

Bob feels the Chamber has a particularly important role to play in the current economic climate.

“We’ve tailored our events to cover themes that will help our members conduct business in difficult times. Sometimes tough times mean opportunity, perhaps reduced competition in the marketplace? We also offer various marketing channels to our members, we’re always saying if you’ve got something good to say, shout about it!”

Bob is also keen to urge alumni to join, saying: “Our strapline is ‘To help business in Renfrewshire grow and prosper’ and that’s just what we do.”

Alumnus Bob davidson speaks to Stephanie Brickman about heading up Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce and the great start he got at University.

Words stephanie Brickman | Photography mark seager

common sense and contacts

Alumni interested in joining Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce can call 0141 847 5455 or visit www.renfrewshirechamber.com

For details on all Scottish Chambers visit www.scottishchambers.org.uk

issUe 2 AUtUmn 10

A warm welcome to the second edition of “West” the UWS alumni magazine.

It has been a busy time since we launched the Alumni Association at the end of last year: the alumni database has grown from 10,500 records to around 15,000 and we hope that our membership will continue to grow over the coming months. Analysis of the database now shows that the University has a network of alumni in senior management positions in businesses and organisations all over the world.

We are keen to keep in touch and engage with all our alumni and it’s been encouraging to see so many former students of the institution join up, and also that you’ve been taking the time to update your records on our website.

We’re working on activities for the year ahead including hosting our first overseas event, in China, next year. Keep checking the alumni section of the website for our future events.

I do hope that you find this edition of the magazine interesting – look out for our alumni competitions and offers. We’d welcome your views on this edition of West – please email me or call me with your comments.I look forward to another successful year and implementing the next stage of our strategy for developing alumni relations and encourage you all to keep in touch.

Crawford WilsonMarketing ManagerAlumni and Development

T: +44 (0)141 848 3293F: +44 (0)141 848 3333 E: alumni@uws.ac.uk

PublishEd by University of the West of Scotland Paisley Campus Paisley, Scotland PA1 2BE

AdvErTising EnquiriEs Crawford Wilson

FEATurEs Olga Wojtas Stephanie BrickmanAdrian Searle

PhoTogrAPhy Mark Seager Adrian Searle

dEsignFreight Design

ContentsfeatUres

regUlars

lord mcfallAdding It Up – Lord McFall, Chair of the Commons Treasury Committee and UWS alumnus, looks at the future of UK banking.Pages 16–18

employability linkHello Dream Job – Employability Link celebrates its first year helping students and alumni towards a successful future.Pages 05

stephen humeMusic Man – Alumnus Stephen Hume on his first breaks in the music industry.Pages 08–09

gill troupStudent Focused – Depute Principal Gill Troup on UWS’ strategic aimsPages 06–07

dr fiona henriquezResearch Success – How UWS academic Fiona Henriquez is helping protect contact lens wearers from a sight-threatening infection.Page 10

continuing Professional developmentYearning for Learning – Hugh Smith on lifelong learning and CPD in UWS School of Education.Page 11

University newsPage 04

a look insidePage 12

alumni ProfilesPages 03, 08–09, 13–15

University ProfilePage 19

lifestyle – cookeryPages 20–21

Book reviewsPage 22

Buying vintagePage 23

alumni BenefitsPage 24

UPdate Us & Win an iPadWe’re always keen to hear how our alumni are doing – and to make sure we’ve got all the right contact details for you, so that we can keep you up to date with alumni offers and UWS developments.

Whether you are a Class of 2010 graduate, or an alumnus already on our database, if there are any changes to your profile, get in touch to update us: you might have moved house, changed jobs, got married, or recently completed some new qualifications. Use our Update form enclosed with your copy of West and return in the freepost envelope supplied.

All returns will be entered into our free prize draw to win an iPad, worth £470. See www.uws.ac.uk/alumni for details.

gill troup

06lord mcfall

16

University of the West of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity. Charity number SC002520. This publication is available electronically and in alternative formats, if required.

foreWord

fsc logo

The gym of the Robertson Trust Sports Centre at Thornly Park, Paisley, has undergone a £70,000 refurbishment, completed for the start of the 2010/11 academic year.

The capacity of the gym has doubled and brand new equipment has been installed, including equipment that is inclusive of disabled gym users. The upstairs area contains treadmills, rowers, bikes and “Total Body Trainers” all of which feature personal viewing screens. There’s also a range of resistance machines.

Centre Manager John McGonigal says the feedback from staff and students has been extremely positive.

“We have a games hall here and we put in a new floor. Outside we’ve got pitches for rugby, football, Gaelic football and American football etc and we have synthetic outdoor pitches. The bit that was missing was a decent gym, so this completes the centre from my point of view,” he explains.

Membership is free for students, staff and alumni. Sessions are paid for on a pay as you go basis and an off-peak session can cost as little as 90p for students and £1.75 for alumni.As an alumnus of the University, you can also use our well-equipped Hamilton Campus sports facilities – for details see www.uws.ac.uk/sportscentres

ayr campus – nearly thereThe Ayr Campus development is continuing apace, and despite a harsh winter, is very much on schedule. Most of the structure and exterior of the building is now complete leaving the contractor, Bovis Lend Lease, to focus on the inside. 250 tradesmen are now working on site to complete mechanical and electrical works and partition the vast space into 500 or so rooms.

The building will finally be handed over in summer 2011 and the lengthy process of moving can begin. Our first cohort of students will move into the building in September 2011 and a programme of events is planned to mark the opening.

new student residences in PaisleyPlans for a £13.6 million student residences complex at Paisley Campus were unveiled in August 2010. The new complex will be home to 340 students in apartments with five or six en-suite bedrooms and communal kitchen and living facilities. The new residence will be located on Storie Street on part of the current UWS car park site.

Architects Lewis and Hickey have been appointed to design the new build and work is expected to begin at the end of March 2011. The building is scheduled for completion in September 2011. In addition to this, 160 University-owned flats in Lady Lane and George Street, Paisley are set to be refurbished at a cost of £4.6 million.

Professor Seamus McDaid, Principal and Vice Chancellor, said: “This new development will give a boost to our students and bring a new community feel to the centre of Paisley.’’

Plans are also progressing for residences at the Ayr Campus right next to the river Ayr. There will be 200 bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and communal living spaces and the project will be completed in September 2011.

neWS

4 / neWs / UWS Alumni Magazine

emPloYaBilitY linK

UWS Alumni Magazine / emPloyaBility linK / 5

How to look for a job, what to put in your CV, how to behave in interviews are all nerve wracking questions when you’re new to the job market. However, help is at hand for UWS students and alumni.

Employability Link, operating across the campuses in Ayr, Dumfries, Hamilton and Paisley, co-ordinates all the services available for students and alumni stepping into the world of work. For students searching for part-time work while studying there’s the Job Shop, while another section focuses on placements, which are increasingly important for many courses. And the Careers team guides students and recent alumni towards the right job for them. Alumni can use these services for up to two years after graduating.

Fiona Milne, Employability Developer is keen to stress the benefits of placements and other forms of work-based learning.

“We’ve found that if students undertake placements they are more likely to get a job,” she explains. “It’s incredible, we see students go into the workplace with one attitude and come out with a completely different viewpoint as professionals. They’re able to develop their skills and their confidence, because they’ve put the theory into practice.”

For Martin Keane, who graduated with a BA in Marketing in summer 2010, his first contact with Employability Link was when he was looking for a placement.

“At that stage it was difficult for me to know exactly what prospective placement employers were going to be looking for,” he explains. “It was great to have the support of Employability Link, because they were able to help me complete a CV and provided application coaching. I think that was key to me gaining the placement.”

After a positive experience with finding a placement, Martin turned to Employability Link, when it was time to look for a graduate position.

“Applying for graduate roles was different to applying for placement, so Employability Link was my first port of call. I had the interview in March and the job was all sewn up before my final exams.”

Martin is about to start a new job with Advocates for Animals in Edinburgh, but he still tries to spread the word about the support he got from Employability Link while studying and while he was looking for a job.

“A few colleagues and friends from my year are still looking for jobs and I’m constantly imploring them to go to Employability Link. Especially, when they’ve maybe been turned down for jobs they thought they had a really good chance of getting. Often it’s a badly drafted CV or application form that’s letting them down. They could get help from Employability Link.”

For Software Engineering student Katie Duffy, a placement she found through Employability Link has led to the achievement of her ambition to work for NATS, the National Air Traffic Services, as a Systems Engineer. She started in September 2010 on their graduate training programme in Southampton.

“I was looking for an industrial placement between second and third year. I got in touch and Employability Link helped me with my CV and I went for a couple of interviews. It was an alumnus of UWS who had got in touch with Employability Link about the NATS placement. I’d heard of the company and I was very interested in working for them after I’d graduated so thought that placement could be a good way in.”

Katie did the year’s placement and the company then employed her on a part-time basis during the rest of her course. When she got the required grade in her finals, NATS then accepted her onto their graduate scheme.

“Employability Link liaised directly with NATS for me at the beginning,” she says. “That was really good, because at first I didn’t know how to pitch a business letter or application. I would have been seen as quite young and unprofessional. Even signing off an e-mail properly, I didn’t have a clue about any of that stuff. I might have ended up putting kisses at the end!”

Enhance Your employability

employability link is celebrating its first year of helping UWS students and alumni towards the jobs of their dreams.Words stephanie Brickman

I got in touch and Employability Link helped me with my CV and I went for a couple of interviews, then a job came up with nAtS.

top 10 tips to get that job> Divide time equally between

speculative applications and responding to job adverts.

> network – be prepared to pitch yourself any time, anywhere.

> Keep an open mind and, if possible, widen your network of contacts.

> focus your application/CV – not one size fits all.

> make sure you address all the job criteria in your application with practical evidence.

> accuracy and grammar are vital. get a second opinion on all applications and CVs.

> if going for interview always try to speak to someone in the organisation beforehand.

> take up the offer of a mock interview with us.

> find a way to get across your passion for the job.

> Don’t just hold out for that one position. once an application has been submitted move on to the next until you hear about an interview.

A round up of our campus development news – if you’ve just left us you’ll have witnessed the changes through our £250million investment programme; if you graduated some time ago, you won’t recognise the place!

robertson trust sports centre gets a facelift

“There’s a real challenge for us in meeting our mission, and in providing and developing flexible learning opportunities in our partner colleges, offering part-time study and access programmes.”

Speaking of challenges, Gill sounds more inspired than daunted by the fine balancing of core ideals and the reality of the present situation.

“It’s not a barrier, it’s a challenge!” She exclaims. “It’s a good challenge to have. We’re absolutely delighted that in only three years we’re seeing such a high demand for places.”

“One of the areas we want to develop in is research and commercialisation,” she continues. “Research is critical to the future development of the University, and of course, one of the major challenges facing us is research funding is reducing and competition between institutions is increasing.”

The strategy that has been developed to tackle this involves driving down costs and taking steps to attract more fee-paying students, be that from overseas or from industry. Commercialisation opportunities are also being explored.

“We have lots of academic expertise we can commercialise and we also have other facilities and services,” she explains. “We’re building new residential accommodation, we’re looking at the development of conference facilities and how we use our catering and printing services. We’re pushing up our income, as well as trying to keep an eye on our costs.”

Gill makes all these major challenges facing the University sound easy, although she assures me it

won’t be. She is certainly confident in the strategies that have been developed and implemented over the last few years and has a wealth of experience behind her to inform that opinion.

She grew up in Dundee and following a General Arts degree at the University of Edinburgh, she went on to a two-year honours programme at the University of Aberdeen. She then got a job at the University of Edinburgh Students’ Association developing Welfare Services and undertook an MSc in Social and Public Policy at the same time. From there, she moved to the City of London Polytechnic to be Director of Student Affairs, and then onto the Department of Work and Pensions in Whitehall to set up their Customer Insight Function. She then moved on and ended up in charge of Higher Education, Research and Science Strategy.

“When the merger between the former University of Paisley and Bell College came along, it was me and my team who were advising ministers,” she explains. “So when the job of Vice Principal for Strategy came up it was really attractive to me. It gave me the opportunity to jump back from the policy-making side to the more practical, doing side, and start working with the University that, in my opinion, is the most committed of the Scottish HEIs to widening participation and engagement with local and regional needs.”

Some might say it’s an unusual career path for a senior manager in a university, the one unifying thread is the desire to influence people to achieve their full potential.

“I have a brother who is dyslexic, who is really bright but had problems academically,” she confides. “I’ve seen the frustration of somebody who has abilities, but the system doesn’t recognise them and doesn’t help them to achieve their full potential. This is something I was exposed to at a very young age.”

“I’m passionately committed to the view that the formal education system and the kind of hell-for-leather-rush to get your five Highers, your A grades and gain entry into University, systematically disadvantages some young people for academic or social reasons or reasons of disability.”

“I am a very unconventional senior manager in a university. If somebody came into a careers office and said ‘When I grow up I want to be the Vice Principal of a university’ you wouldn’t advise them to do what I’ve done – most of my colleagues are academics.”

“However, I think there is a message in the story of my career to date - one of the ways I’ve navigated this path is through the further learning that I’ve undertaken throughout my life. A university like ours, which offers flexible study opportunities to adults later on in life, as well as that crucial point when you leave school, creates a wealth of opportunities for individuals to achieve their full potential in life.”

feature

6 / featUre / UWS Alumni Magazine

feature

UWS Alumni Magazine / featUre / 7

When I say Gill Troup is busy, think beyond what busy normally means. After weeks of trying to arrange an interview time with her, we finally get down to business. I remark it would probably have been easier to

get a slot in the Dalai Lama’s diary and, laughing, she does not contradict me.

Gill, who along with Principal Professor Seamus McDaid, is steering UWS through these troubled economic times, seems remarkably relaxed, frequently breaking into hearty laughter.

It’s one of those rare days when she can work from her home in West Lothian. Normally her working days are punctuated by meetings and constant shuttling between UWS’s four campuses. Time-consuming though this may be, she’s quick to point out that the dispersed nature of the campuses is one of the unique features of UWS.

“People have all sorts of good reasons why they don’t want to travel to go to University, some may be about their experience, attitudes and beliefs, as much as they are about their practical environment,” she explains. “So bringing education closer to them is creating study opportunities where they didn’t previously exist.”

“We operate from four campuses and it costs a lot of money to maintain that,” she continues. “We’ve also made a commitment to creating a flexible 21st century

learning environment, wherever our learners are, and that has got significant implications for our estates and infrastructure.”

“Work is continuing on our new £80 million campus development in Ayr, so we will have a fantastic state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly campus there, but it’s expensive. We’re also investing further to bring the other campuses up to where we want them to be in terms of the physical environment.”

All this is set against a backdrop of funding uncertainty, that affects not just the future, but the present. In common with all publicly funded bodies, UWS is looking at cuts of 25–30% on the horizon. But the Funding Council is also unable to confirm how much funding will be available for the current financial year.

An additional new challenge arises from the increased popularity of UWS. Just three years into the life of its new corporate identity, the University is in the enviable position of having the highest demand for places that has ever been experienced.

“What that means for us,” explains Gill, “is that we’re turning away applicants, who have five or six Highers. It’s a fantastic position for us to be in, we want to be a university that’s attracting well-qualified school leavers. But we also want to maintain access to participation. We’ve made a commitment to developing and growing our part-time education, as well as our full-time education.”

Embracing thechALLenge

UWS Depute Principal and Vice Principal for Strategy gill troup talks to Stephanie Brickman about her mission.Words stephanie Brickman | Photography mark seager

We’ve also made a commitment to creating a flexible 21st century learning environment, wherever our learners are, and that has got significant implications for our estates and infrastructure.

A career in music… it’s a tough gig in itself. Jobs are hard to come by and often short term, competition is cut throat and don’t even talk about the hours. But then there’s the variety, the glamour and the constant stimulation of

working in one of the UK’s most thrilling industries.UWS graduate Stephen Hume has landed one of those dream jobs. I catch up with him at the Tolbooth in Stirling, a council run multi-purpose music venue, where he works as Music Development Officer.

He’s just had a cliff-hanger of a weekend. The two bands booked for the Friday night show both managed to get arrested the night before in Aberdeen, and didn’t think they’d make the gig. Having taken steps to cancel the event, Stephen heard they’d been released and quickly “uncancelled” the gig.

But is life at the Tolbooth, nestling at the heart of Stirling’s genteel old town, always this “rock ‘n’ roll”?

“It’s extremely varied here,” he explains. “I put on gigs; manage the recording studio; run various workshops on the likes of songwriting and digital media; and I look after a variety of other projects – everything from helping a local primary school to record their Christmas CD to advising young bands.”

“When I was at University, I remember saying to a couple of friends: ‘It’d be great to open a place that was a venue, a record label, a café and a recording studio all in one.’ Well the Tolbooth isn’t far off that. On top of that there’s the community side of things as well, which I love. You have a bad day speaking to someone or you lose a band for a gig and then you go and run a workshop with young people and see how much they get out of it and you just think – everything else doesn’t matter!”

Stephen doesn’t hold back on praise for the Commercial Music degree he started studying in 2003.

“It’s a very interesting course and unlike most other Uni courses out there. On the first day you’re split into bands with people you’ve never met before and told to write six songs and perform them in six weeks.”

“It’s a very social course and in that way it mirrors the music industry – if you want to survive you’ve got to have the contacts. You can pay for singing lessons, but you can’t buy contacts.”

It was a part-time course tutor, Alex Papasimakopoulou, who runs the Everymatic management company, who gave Stephen his first opportunity in first year.

“That was a key moment for me in terms of getting into the scene, because if she hadn’t asked me to come and work for her, who knows what would have happened. That door opened for me and I worked for free at the start and then eventually I was able to get paid. I was working on the management side of things and we later branched out into doing press and radio for bands and labels.”

Armed with this experience, Stephen headed down to London for his placement in 2005, working with a company called Mosaic.

“I was going into Radio One and meeting with the producers of Zane Lowe’s show and saying – ‘This is the new record from so and so, you should really have a listen, I think Zane will love it.’ It was quite an eye opener to see behind the scenes of all this kind of thing and see what life’s like down there; it was fantastic… and expensive!”

By the time his final year came to an end Stephen was working freelance for five different music companies, but it was time to take things to the next level.

“I was working five jobs, one day a week in each place. I was also applying to as many jobs as possible, so I could get something full-time that I could get my teeth stuck into. The freelance stuff was great, but you were always a bit-part player and not many people knew who you were outside of those companies. Now I’m Stephen from the Tolbooth.”

He laughs over the title of Music Development Officer – “It’s a ridiculous title, it’s a council title!” But actually his appointment represented an important step for the Tolbooth, as Stirling’s principal live music venue, in supporting contemporary music.

“Being outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh, the scene in Stirling previously lacked a bit of focus, there just wasn’t as much happening,” he explains. “But there are some great bands in the area, which has made my job a hell of a lot easier.”

“I had a young band yesterday asking me ‘How much do we have to pay?” He confides. “It’s terrible that they don’t know that they should be the ones getting paid. It feels great to be giving back to those young people and helping them.”

And what does the future hold for Stephen? In these uncertain times he’s in a position of strength and he is not short of ideas, one being to perhaps become involved in the sometimes complex area of rights over music for film and TV.

“I love music and love seeing music synched with visuals so maybe music supervision. But then, I’d like to take a little foray into management and it’d be good fun to see if I can help a band get to a decent level. But then again…” he pauses and smiles, “I absolutely love what I do here.”

alumni Profile

8 / alUmni Profile / UWS Alumni Magazine

alumni Profile

UWS Alumni Magazine / alUmni Profile / 9

Stephen Achieves The RIghT MIx

Commercial music graduate stephen hume tells Stephanie Brickman about hard work and good connections.

Words stephanie Brickman | Photography mark seager

I was going into Radio One and meeting with the producers of Zane Lowe’s show

feature

10 / featUre / UWS Alumni Magazine

feature

UWS Alumni Magazine / featUre / 11

UWS research expertise is being applied to prevent contact lens wearers from developing a devastating infection that can lead to blindness.

Serious health problems caused by parasites are normally associated with developing countries. But UWS academic Dr Fiona Henriquez is involved in cutting edge research to combat a potentially sight-threatening eye infection affecting contact lens wearers.

Dr Henriquez, a Reader in Parasitology, is quick to stress that infection from the Acanthamoeba parasite is still rare. “But until recently it was really understudied, and was often misdiagnosed as a fungus or even a viral infection.”

Because Acanthamoeba is not linked to a major global problem, funding bodies have had little interest in supporting research into it. But its effects can be devastating: it burrows into the cornea, is extremely resistant to drugs, and can lead to visual impairment and blindness. It is linked to poor cleaning of contact lenses, for

example using tap water to wash the lenses and their case. It is also linked to wearing contact lenses when swimming or sailing, since Acanthamoeba also exists in swimming pools, rivers and the sea. And Dr Henriquez warns that infection rates are likely to increase, given the trend in some developing countries for young people to share contact lenses.

Since the parasite is so resistant to medication, Dr Henriquez and her research colleagues decided that the best treatment was prevention. They have come up with technology for a radical new type of contact lens solution. Currently, only the time-consuming “two-step” method of cleaning lenses, which involves neutralising hydrogen peroxide, kills the parasite. Most people use a “one-step”

method, and the researchers have broken new ground in adding particular compounds to these contact lens solutions to make them safer. The new solution attacks Acanthamoeba’s internal biological processes, pioneering work which is now covered by two patents, and reached the final of the John Logie Baird Innovation Awards

in Scotland.Dr Henriquez has recently been carrying

out research in the University of Chicago’s Ophthalmology Department, thanks to a prestigious international travel grant from the Royal Society. This has given her the opportunity to talk to doctors about diagnosis, and to see patients, which has further strengthened her resolve to fight the parasite.

“It’s very interesting because when you’re working in the laboratory you forget what it’s like to have the disease,” she says.

Her research is particularly timely, since the US Federal Drug Association is developing new legislation requiring contact lens solutions to inhibit Acanthamoeba. The global market for contact lens solutions is currently an estimated $1.6 billion annually and growing rapidly.

Despite the economic downturn, she and her fellow researchers are hoping to attract industrial funding to develop their work further.

Dr Henriquez praises the UWS Innovation & Research Office for its support and encouragement in seeking grants and filing patents. It removes the administrative burden from academics, leaving them free to focus on their research strengths.

Her own enthusiasm is unmistakeable. She describes her work as “more of a hobby,” continuing it into the evenings and weekends. “It’s interesting doing research on a topic where the project is being born and taking on a life of its own,” she says.

Let there Be sight

Olga Wojtas talks to leading UWS researcher dr fiona henriquez about an exciting innovation to cure sight-threatening disease.

Words olga Wojtas | Photography mark seager

It’s interesting doing research on a topic where the project is being born and taking on a life of its own

For further information on the services offered by the Innovation and Research Office, visit www.uws.ac.uk/iro

In the past, it was the norm for teachers to gain their initial professional qualification and work until retirement without taking any more formal qualifications. No longer: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is seen as a valuable way for teachers at any stage of their career to develop their knowledge and improve their skills. The UWS School of Education, based at the Ayr Campus, is pioneering new approaches to CPD which are proving popular both at home and abroad.

Hugh Smith, the School’s Head of CPD, says: “We see ourselves as a key player on the educational scene, nationally and internationally. We have developed a niche market and a name for quality online provision.”

UWS is the only one of Scotland’s seven providers of teacher education to offer a complete online Masters course leading to Chartered Teacher status, which rewards experienced and high quality staff. The advantage of online courses is that participants can study wherever and whenever suits them, and avoid travel costs. UWS has a wide catchment area within the west of Scotland area , but the course, validated by both the University and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, is attracting teachers from across the country.

And UWS has also developed a unique online Artist Teacher programme in partnership with Glasgow Museums and the National

Society for Education in Art and Design, offering a certificate, diploma and MEd. Hugh adds that this is not only geared to teachers, but also to people involved in a vast range of artistic work, from painting and weaving to pottery and sculpture, since it gives them the chance to evaluate and develop their work.

He believes that the UWS ethos, which promotes sharing ideas and experience, fits well with the new Curriculum for Excellence approach, which aims to give all young people a broad general education.

UWS has a long-standing strategic objective to promote social inclusion in education, and has developed an online course on inclusive education, designed to help teachers support all pupils to achieve their potential. This has attracted attention from an unexpected quarter: Indian institutions are keen to find out more.

“We know about the difficulties with poverty and street children,” says Hugh. “For India to look at providing our courses is a wonderful thing to happen,’’ and adds: “We must be doing something right.”

Teachers taking the UWS courses, including its innovative “leadership for learning” programme, are expected to become role models in their own institutions. But Hugh has ever higher ambitions for them. Rather than their Masters dissertations mouldering unseen, he wants their insights and ideas to reach the widest possible audience.

Plans are afoot for a UWS e-journal to launch the suite of new CPD courses in the autumn of next year, which Hugh hopes will reach not only teachers and researchers but also leading education policymakers.

the Continuous

learning cUrve

hugh smith, UWS School of Education’s Head of Continuing Professional Development, talks about the innovative approach to course developments, at home and abroad.

Words olga Wojtas | Photography adrian searle

We see ourselves as a key player on the educational scene, nationally and internationally. We have developed a niche market and a name for quality online provision.

for further information on study opportunities in the School of education, e-mail cpd@uws.ac.uk or visit www.uws.ac.uk/education

a looK inSiDe

12 / a looK inside / UWS Alumni Magazine

a look

Words stephanie Brickman | Photography mark seager

The School of Creative & Cultural Industries has a lot to be proud of right now, not least the recent accreditation of the UWS Media Academy, of which the School is part, by Skillset the Sector Skills Council for Creative Media. This makes UWS one of only three such Academies in Scottish Higher Education and one of only 23 in the whole of the UK.

Anne Gifford is keen to point out that state-of-the-art facilities, like the new studio, were key to the success of the Skillset bid.

“We tell our students your first day in the Academy is your first day in the industry,” she explains. “The facilities that we have back that up; as soon as students join us they get hands-on experience in our specialist studio spaces.”

And they are learning a heady mix of creative and entrepreneurial disciplines in fast-

moving, tough industries such as broadcast journalism, film-making and screen writing, commercial music, performance, and digital art.

“They’re very practice-based programmes,” continues Anne. “What we have to provide is the industry standard environment for our learning and teaching – so that’s what we do.”

The needs of industry are clearly reflected in the design of the programmes, guaranteeing extremely employable graduates. A prime example is the bespoke Masters in Broadcast Journalism. The programme delivers twelve highly employable graduates a year into UK broadcasting. They’re snapped up so quickly, Anne describes it being as if there’s a revolving door between University and industry.

“We’re the School of Creative & Cultural Industries, within a Faculty of Business &

Creative Industries, so that’s a huge opportunity for us to combine our creative practice and technology skills with entrepreneurial skills from the Business School. Particularly as the industry has identified leadership, management and entrepreneurial skills as key areas for development.”

As well as operating across the UWS campuses, the Academy takes advantage of locations in Glasgow where it has established a creative enterprise cluster.

“This year we launched a Masters in Music: Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is an interesting new development. We’ll run that out of our base in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, right in the heart of the city’s music venues.”

But right now, for Anne and her colleagues, it’s the developments in Ayr that are capturing the imagination.

“We’re really thrilled about the creation of the new Ayr Campus which opens in 2011. The combination of the new campus filled with new equipment and studios is just going to make it a fantastic environment for everyone.”

Head of School of Creative & Cultural Industries anne gifford throws open the doors to Ayr Campus’ newest sound studio.

alumni ProfileS

UWS Alumni Magazine / alUmni Profiles / 13

Brian mcdadeBSc mental Health nursing, Class of 2009 I’m a qualified mental health nurse working as a Staff Nurse at Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow. I work on an admission assessment ward for the elderly.

It’s quite challenging at times, but it’s definitely rewarding. The best thing is being able to work with people and learn how they behave. I like to see people getting better – that’s the best part of the job, but it doesn’t always happen, unfortunately.

My dad was a mental health nurse and I used to listen to his stories, and that made me think, I’d give it a go. I enjoyed my time at University, I got a good level of training and it prepared me well. There are some things, though that classroom teaching can’t fully prepare you for – like dealing with the abusive relative of a patient. When you’re faced with this in real life, you soon develop your own way of working in those situations. My time at University gave me the confidence to do that, and helped me to develop the skills that I’d need.

I had to take eighteen months off during my course, because I was involved in a car accident. The School of Health, Nursing & Midwifery kept my place open for me and gave me great support during the build up to my return and during the whole of my final year. It’s not just about the things you learn, Uni is also good for building your character and self-esteem.

ipshita chhibberBSc Forensic Science, Class of 2010I come from Jalandhar in India, where my dad is a businessman and my mum is a housewife. I came here for a wedding – a couple of my cousins stay in Glasgow. They encouraged me to apply to the University, just to see what would happen and I got accepted. I was only going to be here for a week but ended up staying four years!

The first year was difficult, it was hard to adapt at the beginning. I couldn’t understand the Scottish accent at all! I had to ask people to repeat again and again and still didn’t understand.

Also, my family back home in India is quite well-off, so we had servants and drivers. So for 17 years of my life, I’d never travelled on a local bus or train, and it was quite a shock to prepare my own meals and wash my own clothes.

But, I think it was a really good move studying here because I’m independent now: I can drive, I can make my own dinner and clean my room. Before that you could say I was a spoiled brat, these four years have changed me a lot. If I get a job I’d like to stay here in Scotland, I really like it.

scott carrollBSc Hons Environmental Science with Biology, Class of 2004I’m originally from New Zealand, but my dad’s Scottish and we came over here when I was a kid. While I was in my sixth year at school, I had a day trip to what was then University of Paisley. I ended up going to the University and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

I like the fact that the University will give people a chance to gain entry, even if they have to pass a few extra modules through summer school. I don’t think that makes it any easier than any other University. In fact, when I speak to friends who went to different universities, some of the exams I did seem harder than what they had to go through.

My course gave me a solid scientific background, which has helped me to develop my career across the pharmaceutical, contaminated land and water provision/regulation industries. Currently I work and live in London although I still have my long-term partner, house and dog up in Glasgow. I work as an Analytical Services Manager for a company called Eurofins Environmental Services. We do environmental testing mainly on drinking water and food samples.

alumni ProfilesOur aim is to give our students the best start in their future careers. Here’s how these graduates got on.

12 / a looK inside / UWS Alumni Magazine

fabien rollet Beng (hons) and PhD Civil engineering, graduated 2010

typhaine rollet (nee mace) erasmus exchange student, Business School, Class of 2003

The newly wed, Dr and Mrs Rollet hail from Guadeloupe in the Carribean and Normandy in France, respectively but love blossomed for them at UWS in the rather less exotic setting of Thornly Park Halls of Residence, outside Paisley!

It was 2002, Fabien was a Civil Engineering student, Typhaine was on an Erasmus exchange studying Business. A good friend of Typhaine’s, Mathieu, had been regaling her with stories of his good-looking Guadeloupian flatmate, her curiosity was piqued and the rest is history.

“She actually saw me before I saw her,” laughs Fabien. “I was arriving at the reception at Thornly Park and she could see me from her kitchen window. So she came to visit Mathieu and that was it. It was love at first sight, and

since then we’ve been together – 8 years in October!”

The wedding took place in Typhaine’s home town of Caen in Normandy in August this year. “We feel we owe so much to Scotland, because we met here,” explains Typhaine. “So we decided to have a Scottish-themed wedding. Fabien wore a kilt, and all the decorations were blue and white. We had a piper, I had a thistle in my bridal bouquet and it felt like we were in Scotland, only there was sunshine!”

The couple are back in Scotland after their honeymoon and living in Glasgow, where Fabien is working as a civil engineer and Typhaine is working in marketing.

All as a result of that chance meeting at University!

alumni ProfileS

14 / alUmni neWs / UWS Alumni Magazine

Beltus etchu Ba Business accounting, Class of 2007 mSc international financial management, Class of 2008

In March 2002, I came to Scotland with my wife and children. It was a very difficult and dangerous time in Cameroon, where I am originally from and where I was working as a human rights activist. I came to Scotland to seek protection.

I’ve always said that to be an active citizen you need to be knowledgeable, so studying was something that was honourable for me. As someone seeking asylum, legislation states that you aren’t able to work. If I wanted to study I had to pay full international fees, which I couldn’t afford, of course.

I contacted UWS and explained my case and I was delighted that they decided to help me out. They enabled me to study with them to build on my previous experience to get my degree. I studied really hard as it meant a lot to me and I achieved my degree with Distinction and was awarded a UWS Court medal for my final year studies.

My time at UWS helped me to reskill and this was important to me. For example, I was volunteering as Chair at that time of the Greater Pollok Integration Network, which is a recognised charity that supports and champions integration locally. It was a period when we were going through a lot of development, establishing ourselves as a proper organisation providing local services. Having gone through the process of reskilling myself, it put me in a very strong position to help this organisation that I’m so proud of.

On top of the success in my studies, I was recognised as a refugee by the Government in 2008. This permitted me to remain and seek work here in Scotland.

I now work as a Quality Management Officer for CEMVO (Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations) in Scotland. My responsibility includes nurturing and training 21 ethnic minority organisations to help them gain accreditation from the European Foundation for Quality Management; and I’m now an Accredited Assessor for EFQM.

I am also one of the founders of The Next Step Initiative, one of the charities helping the African community in Scotland. In September 2010 The Next Step Initiative launched Radio Kilimanjaro, Scotland’s first African community radio station; it will provide a platform for young people from the African community to build skills and confidence using media as a tool and it will enable the community to raise awareness of any issues that they are facing.

As well as this, I’m one of the founders and owners of Camflava, an African cabaret bar and restaurant in Glasgow’s Southside. Camflava

is all about using food and music to raise awareness of the contribution that the African community makes in Scotland.

I’m proud of what I’ve achieved here, and of the new life that my family and I have now in Scotland. I’ve recommended UWS to many people and a lot of them have gone to study there as a result of looking at what I’ve achieved. The courses are excellent and the standard is very high.

To find out more about refugees and people seeking asylum in Scotland visit Scottish Refugee Council at www.scottishrefugee council.org.uk

For more information on Camflava go to: www.camflavaltd.co.uk

Did you meet your partner at UWS or one of its predecessors? If so we’d like to hear your story – contact alumni@uws.ac.uk

I’m proud of what I’ve achieved here, and of the new life that my family and I have now in Scotland.

14 / alUmni Profiles / UWS Alumni Magazine UWS Alumni Magazine / alUmni Profiles / 15

dr Karen e logan BSc Biology, Class of 1994 (university of Paisley)Until recently I was the Project Manager for an international HIV Vaccine Discovery Consortium at Imperial College London.

I’ve just started a new position as a Project Analyst for Emergent Biosolutions, working on their Tuberculosis Vaccine Program – a joint venture with Oxford University.

UoP set my career firmly on the right path; my memories (apart from exams, obviously!) are very positive, and I still love the subject area that I started out in.

I am in contact with many of my year group but would love to hear from other former Biology classmates from the University!

david g smith hnC mechanical engineering, Class of 1979 (Bell College of technology); igDS, Class of 1984 (Paisley College of technology)I served a four-year Engineering Technician apprenticeship at the former National Engineering Laboratory in East Kilbride and during my apprenticeship I undertook my HNC.

After further study and experience gained in a number of posts, I became Managing Director of Howden Compressors in Glasgow. In 1996 I moved to the US as Howden’s Vice President Operations, North America. Since 2004, I have been responsible for operations in Mexico. I became a US Citizen in 2009; my home is in South Carolina, but I spend 80% of my time in Mexico City.

I’d love to hear from any former classmates, or from any alumni who are now based in Mexico City or South Carolina.

tracy chalmers BSc mathematical Sciences, Class of 1995 (university of Paisley)As a procurement and logistics professional I have had fifteen years’ experience since graduating in a variety of roles with blue chip companies in electronic manufacturing in Scotland. Since 2002, I have been working for Philips Lighting in Lanarkshire, and was promoted in April 2010 to be Lean Project Leader involved in creating and installing effective and efficient production, materials control, scheduling and reporting systems.

I would love to hear from any of my former Mathematical Sciences classmates from the University.

links fromread more about our profiled alumni on the uWS alumni website, and on linkedin.

alumni ProfileS

AlumniPROFILeS

As an alumnus of UWS – or of any of our former institutions – why not join the official UWS Linkedin Alumni Group on Linkedin.com and network with fellow graduates.

feature feature

UWS Alumni Magazine / featUre / 17

Neither MPs nor bankers have had a good press recently, so it could seem a reckless move for a recently retired MP to contemplate getting involved in banking. But not when

the individual is John McFall, widely hailed as the scourge of the banking industry and, incidentally, a UWS Chemistry graduate (1968 – Paisley College of Technology, now UWS).

Earlier this year, he stepped down after more than 20 years as a Labour MP. As the elected Chair of the powerful Commons Treasury Committee since 2001, he was seen as the campaigner for ordinary people in the wake of the recent banking crisis. This was underlined when he was named Which? Consumer Champion of 2009 for his role in improving financial services for consumers.

He famously accused Sir John Gieve, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, of being “in the back of the shop, while there was a mugging out front” and condemned leading hedge fund managers for snubbing the public “while making shedloads of money.”

He has now been asked to become involved with plans for a new banking venture, which will have the interests of local communities and businesses at its heart.

Lord McFall says it is too early to go into detail about these plans, but his way of thinking is clearly set out in the radical report of the Future of Banking Commission.

“I think there’s a need to restore trust and confidence in the banking sector and hopefully this document is a step in that direction,” he says.

He established the cross-party commission, which also included Conservative David Davis and Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, to give the public a voice, hearing the views and stories of as many people as possible. The report states that restoring the banks to solvency is tackling only one part of the problem, and that it is not enough to return to “business as usual.”

It calls for banks to have “living wills,” public documents, which set out what would happen if they collapsed, and how customers would be treated.

“Depositors need better protection; it is simply not acceptable for individual depositors in UK banks to discover that they have unwittingly put their savings at risk through the misguided actions of some banks in parts of the capital markets,” the report says.

Lord McFall says: “There is a concept still of banks being ‘too big to fail’ and that issue has still to be tackled.”

The Government currently implicitly guarantees to support the banks, allowing them to increase their risk, which in turn makes it more likely that taxpayers will have to pick up the tab when things go wrong. The Commission report wants to see a restructuring of the banks, which means that they can fail without causing catastrophic damage to either their customers or the economy.

One of the Commission’s witnesses, John Kay, visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, criticised banks for effectively attaching a casino to the payment, deposit and lending system, with the casino’s losses then threatening to bring the rest of the banks’ workings to a halt.

People thought that these two worlds were divorced from one another, says Lord McFall, but for many banks, they were one and the same. A model for the future is an investment bank which includes a branch bank element but avoids the casino side.

Lord McFall is prominent among UWS’s high-achieving alumni who reach influential positions. And he pays tribute to the University for turning him into a lifelong learner, joking that he has never been off the educational conveyor belt since graduating.

“It was a springboard for my career in giving me an inquiring mind which hasn’t left me – I owe it a lot.”

Alumnus lord mcfall speaks to Olga Wojtas about life as an mP, the recent banking crisis and his lust for learning.

Words olga Wojtas | Photography mark seager

16 / featUre / UWS Alumni Magazine

learning IS FOR life

Continues over page

feature

18 / featUre / UWS Alumni Magazine

He left school at 15 without any qualifications. But his wife Joan encouraged him to study for Highers at night school, and he successfully applied to the then Paisley College of Technology, a forerunner of UWS, when he was 24.

“It gave me confidence and made me feel that education was the way forward,” he says. He gained a BSc in Chemistry in 1968, becoming a chemistry and maths teacher, and later went on to take an MBA at Strathclyde University, and a BA in Education and Philosophy from the Open University.

A staunch trade unionist, he was a stalwart of the local Labour Party. He became its Chairman in the 1980s, demonstrating a talent for being able to reach out to opposing factions. In 1987, he decided to stand for Dumbarton, where he was born, educated and has lived all his life.

On the opposition front bench, he was used to holding several portfolios simultaneously, and as a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office, he covered areas ranging from Education, Training and Employment, to Health and Community Relations. Throughout his parliamentary career he has been noted for his ability to focus on the key issues.

His capacity for study stood him in good stead when it came to the Treasury Select Committee. It was a challenging remit, particularly for someone with no background in Finance or Economics, and involved hours of extra work every weekend.

“I had to study hard, akin to my days at university.”

Having said that, a friend who was a Professor of Economics urged him not to feel inhibited in his new role, since he would meet a lot of financial experts who didn’t know “which way was up.”

“That proved to be true, too true,” Lord McFall says.

He concedes that there are always risks associated with any organisation, but says it is crucial for these risks to be understood.

“There was a concept known as “securitisation” and all the clever people said it was wonderful, because you could give someone a loan, then slice and dice it, and get it off your books in a day. I was told the risk was spread so much that there wouldn’t be any volcanic eruption, but they didn’t know what the risk was and who was holding it,” he says.

“When there’s risk, you want a fire brigade. And you want them to put the fire out in the kitchen, not wait until it consumes the entire house.”

He admits to having been horrified by the lack of awareness among leading figures in the banking sector. On one occasion, a high-powered investment banker was asked what collateralised debt obligation, a type of loan instrument, was, and replied that he was not there to explain it.

“There were billions of pounds in these products but people couldn’t understand them. The complexity masked everything.”

Lord McFall will not only be pursuing the new banking venture, but plans to play an active role in overseas development in the

House of Lords.“The effects that we have here resonate

very much in the developing world, with millions of people made unemployed,” he says.

“There will need to be international solutions, and I’ll keep playing a small part in promoting or formulating proposals for a way forward.”

At the beginning of the year, he was invited to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy Committee, which subsequently said that individual banks should never again be allowed to become so important that their failure could endanger the country’s economy and allow them “to hold a gun to the collective heads of the taxpayer.”

And while he said the way ahead would be slow and painful, he made it clear that he is fundamentally optimistic.

“People feel a bit down because both the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland were at the epicentre of the crisis, but I’m a firm believer in looking for positive elements in something,” he says, pointing out that both Microsoft and Starbucks emerged at the time of a recession in America.

“When you’re at the bottom, you’ve got to start preparing for coming out of it. My advice to the people in the Scottish Parliament was don’t beat yourself up.”

learning is for life continued from p17

Lord mcFall is prominent among UWS’s high-achieving alumni who reach influential positions.

uniVerSitY Profile

UWS Alumni Magazine / University Profile / 19

The allegedly psychic skills of Paul the octopus, who ‘’predicted’’ the results of games during the World Cup in South Africa this year, was the first time most people became aware of the fascination of the octopus.

But Professor Roddy Williamson, a neuroscientist who last year joined UWS as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, has long been noted for his research into these curious animals.

“It’s an absolutely fabulous animal,” he says. With only 10 per cent of a human’s nervous system, an octopus can learn to distinguish between a ball which is rough and one which is smooth, and between rectangular shapes which are upright or on their side. Some research suggests that simply by watching, one octopus can learn from another how to take a cork out of a bottle.

Roddy’s early career was in the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, where he worked alongside Nobel Prize winners Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley. There, he investigated how the nervous system controls

movement, using sharks as a model. “If you removed a shark’s brain, its body

would continue to swim until its energy supply ran out,” he says. “What this means is that much of the circuitry for locomotion is contained within the spinal cord. When you scale that up to look at humans, humans have control systems in their brains, but basic patterns are still within the spinal cord.”

The eminent biologist John Zachary Young suggested that Professor Williamson go to help some German colleagues with their work on octopuses, which are still very much under-researched.

This included their balance system, which looks like two spheres below either side of the brain, but operates similarly to humans’ inner ear balance system.

“They have sensory hair cells, just as we have, but they go one step further, because as well as sending information to the brain, they receive feedback from the brain that changes how they respond. So it could be argued that they’re superior to us,” Roddy says.

Ultimately, research into animals is valuable

for possible insights into improving human health and wellbeing, but Roddy finds it intrinsically intriguing.

“We are used to seeing the world as we see it, but a lot of animals can see UV rays, polarised light, and feel and smell and taste things that we can’t.”

From 1996, Roddy held a series of posts at the University of Plymouth, latterly as Director of the Plymouth Marine Institute. He won more than £2 million in research grants and has published well over 100 scientific papers.

Now he is more than delighted to return to his roots through UWS – he was born and brought up in Ayrshire – and he’s tasking himself with boosting the University’s applied research base. Roddy is also keen to forge links with local employers, many of whom are UWS alumni.

“I’d like to increase our research base through links to partners whether employers, research councils or other universities. And I’m optimistic about the future because of the contacts that the University has built up over many years.’’

the oCtopUsResearch shows it’s slightly superior!

Professor roddy Williamson, UWS Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science and technology, talks to Olga Wojtas about his research into brain function and about returning to his roots.

Words olga Wojtas | Photography mark seager

cvlord mcfall

• graduated from the former Paisley College of technology with a BSc in Chemistry in 1968

• labour mP for Dumbarton – 1987

• July 1998 appointed Parliamentary under Secretary of State in the northern ireland office (remained in that office until powers were devolved to the northern ireland assembly)

• 2001 – elected Chair of the treasury Select Committee; re-elected for a second term in 2005

• June 2010, created a life peer as Baron mcfall of alcluith, of Dumbarton

Octopus photo: Silke Baron

lifeStYle

20 / lifestyle / UWS Alumni Magazine

lifeStYle

Ask any international student, and they’ll tell you that food was up there with the weather, vying for first place in the culture shock stakes, when they first arrived in Scotland. And most Scots would be the first to admit that, though they can be delicious, fish and chips are not really a delicacy. As for haggis, it’s better not to know too much about where it comes from.

But when you leave home behind to study in Scotland, which foods can you just not do without?

Hafsa Mahmood, originally from Faisalabad in Pakistan, was delighted to discover that getting hold of ingredients for her favourite recipes was no problem in Paisley, where she is now studying for a PhD in Supply Chain Management.

“When I first arrived I found that most of the ingredients for the traditional dishes from home were readily available,” she explains. “The only complication was getting Halal meat, because I’m a Muslim, but I soon found a place where I could buy this in Glasgow and take it back for my freezer.”

Hafsa was sharing a flat with girls from Poland, France, Denmark, Germany and England and soon noticed that whenever she started to prepare dishes by frying cumin seeds in oil, they would come in to see what was cooking. Soon they were cooking typical dishes from each other’s countries for each other once a month.

“I was careful cooking for them to only put in a tiny bit of green chilli, but even so they were bright red after eating it,” laughs Hafsa.

“The next time I made it, just with spices and no chilli, then they really liked it. I also made them a lentil dish that we eat back home when we have exams, it’s really good if you’re feeling down, and I also made them a dessert of sweet rice.”

“I’ve tasted fish and chips, which was very nice,” she continues. “I also had haggis – I was a bit suspicious, but it was really good.”

Jiang Jiang, a Computing student from Beijing, has also adapted to eating Scottish food sometimes, but likes to cook traditional Chinese dumplings for his evening meals.

“I go to Chinatown in Glasgow for the ingredients,” he explains. “Dumplings can be boiled, steamed or fried and you can fill them with anything. It takes me about two hours to prepare them and I like to cook fried rice as a side dish.”

While he admits arriving in Scotland was a bit of a culture shock, Jiang Jiang now wants to stay on after studying and says he doesn’t mind the weather.

“I like the rain, walking in it and watching it! But of course, I really miss my family in China, so cooking makes me feel at home.”

food for learning

two UWs international students talk about the delicacies they just couldn’t leave behind.

Words stephanie Brickman

White rice and lentil curry (dal chawal)

This is a very economical and easy to cook light meal, easy to digest as well and very popular among students.

IngredientsFor rice1 cup boiled basmati rice2 tablespoon olive oil OR 1 tablespoon pure butter½ teaspoon whole cumin (jeera)

For lentils200g dry red Scottish lentils2 cups water½ teaspoon salt OR to taste½ teaspoon red chilli powder OR to taste¼ teaspoon turmeric powder½ teaspoon garam masala (optional)4 cloves

For Tarka*4 tablespoon olive oil OR 2 tablespoon pure butter½ teaspoon whole cumin (jeera)1 tablespoon chopped ginger and garlic1 small thin sliced onion2 small tomatoes roughly chopped1 seedless sliced green chilli (optional)1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander

DirectionsPlace lentils into a large saucepan, pour in 1½ cup water, and add cloves, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 10-15 minutes (if you think more water is required to cook lentils add more but this curry should be thicker than soup).

While the lentils cook, place oil/butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir in the cumin, and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add onion and fry until turn golden brown, stirring often. Then add ginger/garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add green chilli, fry for 1 minute and lastly add tomato and fry until tender about 2–3 minutes.

Add Tarka to the boiled lentils, mix well, sprinkle chopped coriander on top, cover saucepan with a lid and remove from heat

For rice, place oil/butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir in the cumin, and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute, add rice and fry for 2 minutes.

PresentationOn a dinner plate, place a layer of rice and on top of it a layer of lentil curry. Serve with fresh salad and pickle.

* a dish using ingredients cooked in a spiced butter/oil which is added to cooked lentils. Everyone has their own favourite version – this is mine.

UWS Alumni Magazine / lifestyle / 21

Boiled northern dumplings

These dumplings, chiao-tzu, are particularly popular during the Chinese New Year. They are sometimes eaten as the only course of a meal. Fillings can be a variety of different vegetables, with either pork or beef or sometimes fish. Size can also vary, but chiao-tzu, when cooked, should always contain a small amount of liquid (soup) inside the wrapper.

IngredientsFor the dough575g plain flourabout 350ml cold water

For the filling25g dried shrimps, rinsed5ml (ltsp) Shaohsing wine or medium dry sherry900g Chinese celery cabbage, trimmed10ml (2tsp) salt450g pork with a little fat, finely chopped12 spring onions, cut into small rounds

For the marinade7.5ml (1½ tsp) saltblack pepper 10ml (2tsp) Shaohsing wine or medium dry sherry45ml (3tbsp) sesame oil45ml (3tbsp) groundnut or corn oil

For the dipsSoy sauce, thin or thick, vinegar, Chinkiang wine or hot chilli oil

SERVES Makes about 100 small dumplings

DirectionsPrepare the dough: sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Gradually stir in the water and start kneading. Knead for 1–2 minutes or until smooth. The dough should be firm but pliable and not dry. Cover the bowl with a tea-towel and leave for about 30 minutes at room temperature.

Prepare the filling: soak the shrimps in enough boiling water to just cover them, for 15 – 20 minutes. Drain them, reserving the liquid. Chop the shrimps finely and add the wine or sherry.

Shred the cabbage crosswise as thinly as possible and then chop roughly, cutting

out the hard core. Put the cabbage into a bowl. Mix in the salt and leave for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the marinade: add the salt, pepper, wine or sherry and oils to the pork. Also add 45ml (3tbsp) of the shrimp water (if insufficient, make up with cold water), and stir vigorously in the same direction for about 1 minute. Mix in the shrimps and spring onions and leave to marinate until the dough is ready.

Squeeze out the excess water from the cabbage but leave damp. Add to the pork mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. On a lightly floured board, roll out one piece into a long cylindrical roll, about 2cm (3/4 inch) in diameter and then cut into pieces about 1.5cm (3/5 inch) long. Cover spare dough with a tea-towel.

One by one, stand each piece upright on the heel of your hand; slightly round off the dough then flatten with the other hand. Flour them lightly. Using a narrow rolling pin, roll out each piece into a circular wrapper about 7.5cm (3 inches) in diameter. Make the centre slightly thicker than the edge by rotating the dough anti-clockwise as you roll.

Place a wrapper in the palm of one hand or on a flat surface and put about 7.5ml (11/2tsp) of the filling in the middle. Pinch tightly to seal the 2 edges. Hold the dumpling between the thumbs and index fingers of both hands, seal the right edges by squeezing the thumb and index finger together pinching and pleating to make one or two tucks simultaneously, then seal the left edges in the same way. Put the dumpling on a floured tray. Repeat until all are made.

To boil the dumplings in a wok, bring about 1.7 litres (3 pints) of water to a fast boil. Put in 5 or 6 dumplings and stir so that they do not stick to the bottom of the wok. Add another 14 or 15 and stir again. Cover the wok and return to the boil. Stir, then cover again, lower the heat and continue to simmer gently for another 8–10 minutes or until the dumplings have floated to the surface.

Serve hot. To eat, dip them in soy sauce, vinegar and hot chilli oil, mixing them to individual taste.

See more of Hafsa's recipes at www.alumni.ac.uk/lifestyle

reVieWS

22 / revieWs / UWS Alumni Magazine UWS Alumni Magazine / revieWs / 23

a great read

59 Minutes, the second novel from crime writer Gordon Brown, gives us the unlikely but exciting story of a petty Glaswegian criminal who becomes one of the most powerful crime lords in the UK. From modestly violent beginnings as a gun for hire in 70s gang-infested Scotland, ‘Riko’ narrates his rise to infamy with sharp bursts of brutality, surprising observation and more than a light sprinkling of humour. But all does not end well for our ambitious Riko; just as he has reached the top, he is sent right back down again and finds himself plotting revenge from his cell during a decade and a half in prison.

On his release, he records his desperation, obsession, and plans for vengeance on a Dictaphone – recordings that appear have been typed up for our benefit. But who are we? And why have we been presented with this

questionable diary?With plot twists that keep the pages turning

fast and an array of suspicious characters without a morally decent thought between them, the answers remain elusive for the majority of the book. Descriptions of Glasgow and London are vivid throughout and the cities seem, for all their grim gore, surprisingly recognisable; despite not being a crime lord myself, I suspect I have walked the back streets with the best of them. If you fancy a bit of sun, there are some blistering scenes in Spain as well, ensuring the backdrop never becomes stale or over familiar. The diary entry style of the second half keeps the pace up, and the conclusion arrives with a satisfying boom that ties up all the loose ends in one big bodybag. If you like your thrillers fast and your criminals with severed spinal cords, you’ll find this a cracking read.

Meg is stuck. She’s stuck reviewing a book she hates that tells her how to survive the end of the universe. She’s stuck in a damp cottage in Dartmouth that makes her wheeze; she’s stuck in a stale relationship with her hopeless boyfriend who likes to cry on the couch, a lot; she’s stuck writing trashy sci-fi and genre fiction under the name “Zeb Ross.”

Zeb Ross is stuck on facebook with only a cyber-existence and a fictional disfigurement that prevents him from giving interviews. In fact, all the characters seem a bit stuck in their tragic lives. Or after lives. Or eternal lives. Of course, the thought of an eternal life right now fills Meg with dread. But things might be looking up. Her review leads on to bigger and better things: she starts knitting, she starts writing a column about knitting, she might just find a way to enjoy one life, at least, after all.

Scarlett Thomas has followed her best-selling book, The End of Mr Y, with an ambitious, witty and really quite smart novel that indulges ideas of re-created universes, un-ending lifetimes and story-less stories. Her heroine, Meg, is a writer herself, and this combined with the theme of narrative (or non-narrative) does mean that not a great deal happens.

The characters spend a lot of time sitting around talking and there are enough in-jokes to leave other writers chuckling for hours, but don’t let that put you off. This is one of the funniest, quirkiest, brightest books I’ve read about not-very-much in a long time. And although it doesn’t really tell you how to survive life (or the afterlife, or the end of the universe), if you look carefully, there are some pretty good tips about how to knit a sock without getting your stitches twisted.

Helen Sedgwick reviews two new books ideal for curling up in front of the fire with this winter.

Bang on the hour

the science of living forever

gordon Brown59 minUtesfledgling Press, 292pp, rrP £7.99

scarlett thomasoUr tragic UniverseCanongate, 428pp, rrP £14.99

Passion for vintage fashion

faShion

Vintage has been around for a long time but now the big guns are starting to take notice. Magazines are full of it, vintage shops are busier than ever and Marks and Spencer’s has even launched its own faux-vintage range. Lynne McCrossan caught the bug a few years ago, an interest which culminated in A girl’s guide to vintage, her new fashion bible. But where did this passion start?

“It was my grandmother’s fur coat,” she said. “She died in the late 60s, twenty years before I was born. My mum got this gorgeous fur coat from her and passed it on to me. It gave me a real insight into my grandmother as a woman in a way photos couldn’t do. That coat showed off her style and who she really was.”

Vintage seems to be the big fashion retail success story of the last few years with shops popping up everywhere. How does Lynne account for this sudden explosion of interest?

“You get to pick and choose your style, and it’s completely individual. If you buy a dress in a vintage store, there aren’t another 1500 replicated up and down the country. For a lot of women, I think it’s about having that signature style. And it’s so accessible. You don’t have to spend an absolute fortune.”

But she points out that many of the best vintage shops have been around for a while. “The majority of these shops, particularly in

Glasgow and Edinburgh, have been going for years. In Edinburgh, Herman Brown, on the West Port, has been running since 1984. Armstrong’s was established at the turn of last century. In Glasgow, Mr Ben, on King Street, was originally started off by owner Mary Anne in the Barras, a good 25 years or more ago.”

In the current climate, is money the driving factor? “You can get second-hand for absolutely nothing,” she says. “But then there’s some vintage that sells for £300, £400, £500.”

Can guys buy vintage as well? She’s in no doubt. “I actually think you’ve got it a little easier than girls at the moment because there’s so much guy stuff available. It looks so good on men. Gorgeous!”

Every true fashionista must have a mantra. What’s Lynne’s? “Find something you’re absolutely going to fall in love with. So when you’re shopping, don’t think ‘oh, I want a top in such-and-such colour’, it’s not going to happen. You have to go with an open mind.”

And what’s the biggest no-no? “Don’t end up looking like a tribute act,” she says with a laugh. “Use vintage the way you’d use anything else. You wouldn’t go head-to-toe in Primark or Topshop, so mix it up. Mix up your eras, mix up your styles.”

As the queen of vintage, what’s Lynne’s favourite find? “One dress was from New York,

from a Sixth Avenue market. It was absolutely freezing. I was trying on a million and one things. I found a 1980s tiny, tight black dress with a stitched gold bolero on top of it. It was apparently created for someone going to the Country Music Awards. I think it was about $120.”

Has she found vintage addictive? “Totally, once you do it the high street doesn’t provide that same buzz.” Is it the thrill of the chase? “Yes,” she says. “It’s the history of it all, the individuality of it.”

Vintage has been fashion’s best kept secret for years. now journalist, tV presenter and all-round fashionista lynne mccrossan has let the cat out of the bag with her new book. Adrian Searle asked her what all the fuss is about.

lynne mccrossan’s favourite vintage shops

Mr Ben 101 King Street, Glasgow0141 553 1936www.mrbenretroclothing.com Attica 2 Old George Yard, Newcastle-upon-Tyne0191 261 4062 www.atticavintage.co.uk Herman Brown 151 West Port, Edinburgh0131 228 2589www.hermanbrown.co.uk

cOMPeTITIOn

Win a copy of one of the books

reviewed on this spread.

Check out www.uws.ac.uk/

bookcompetition

as a member of our alumni association you can benefit from:

> up to 2 years free careers and CV advice after graduation

> free access to the UWS campus libraries

> special rates for our sports facilities

> discounted rates on University accommodation

> special holiday deals with Barrhead travel

> discount rates in selected hotels in west and south-west Scotland

> deals on concerts and shows throughout the UK

For details visit www.uws.ac.uk/alumnideals

services for UWS Alumni

If you graduated from one of our former institutions before University of the West of Scotland was formed in August 2007, you can still join the UWs alumni association.

Check out www.uws.ac.uk/alumni for instructions